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General
Nicknames of Places and Things

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Part One
Part Two

Nicknames of Places and Things

Part One

In this section you're given the nickname of something and you have to say what that nickname refers to. (Part Two has a few where you're given a description of the thing and you have to give its nickname.)

Q: Which (city, etc.) is sometimes/was once known as ... ? A:
The Year of the Four Emperors (in ancient Rome) Click to show or hide the answer
The Year of the Six Emperors (also in ancient Rome) Click to show or hide the answer
The Year of Revolutions (because of a surge in political unrest and insurrection in continental Europe) Click to show or hide the answer
The Summer of Love Click to show or hide the answer
Bloody Sunday (Londonderry) Click to show or hide the answer
The Year of the Three Popes (20th century) Click to show or hide the answer
The Winter of Discontent (a period of industrial strife in the UK, leading to the downfall of a government) Click to show or hide the answer
The Glorious Twelfth Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
The Devil's Bedpost (playing card) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
The Curse of Scotland (don't ask why – nobody really knows) Click to show or hide the answer
A Baker's Dozen Click to show or hide the answer
The Granite City Click to show or hide the answer
The Green Fairy, or The Green Muse Click to show or hide the answer
The Death Card Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Paddy's Milestone (an uninhabited rock in the Firth of Clyde) Click to show or hide the answer
Seward's Folly (bought from Russia for $7.2m in 1867) Click to show or hide the answer
The Frying Pan (London racecourse, closed in 1970) Click to show or hide the answer
The Venice of the North Click to show or hide the answer
City of Sails (due to its unique position, with distinct bodies of water on either side, and the resulting proliferation of sailing boats; Commonwealth city)Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Battle of the Three Emperors (Austria and Russia vs. France, 1805) Click to show or hide the answer
St. Lubbock's Days (after the MP who drafted the bill that enacted them, 1871) Click to show or hide the answer
The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street Click to show or hide the answer
The Cockpit of Europe (because of the number of decisive battles fought on its soil) Click to show or hide the answer
Workshop of the World, City of a Thousand Trades Click to show or hide the answer
The Queen among drinks Click to show or hide the answer
Beantown, The Athens of America Click to show or hide the answer
The Great White Way (New York street – refers particularly to the Theater District, because of the proliferation of lights – newspaper headline 1902) Click to show or hide the answer
The Jewel of the Cotswolds (Worcestershire village) Click to show or hide the answer
The Fortunate Islands Click to show or hide the answer
The Mother City, or The Tavern of the Seas Click to show or hide the answer
The Spanish Main is the coastline of the Click to show or hide the answer
French luxury goods company, founded in 1847: dubbed by Edward VII "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers" Click to show or hide the answer
The Dead Heart of Africa (because of its central location and arid climate) Click to show or hide the answer
The Windy City Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
City of the Plains; the Garden City (New Zealand) Click to show or hide the answer
Capital of the Cotswolds Click to show or hide the answer
The Square Mile Click to show or hide the answer
Old Ironsides (the US navy's most famous ship) Click to show or hide the answer
The Pearl of the Antilles Click to show or hide the answer
The World's Oldest City (self–styled – mentioned in Genesis) Click to show or hide the answer
Tin Pan Alley (London) Click to show or hide the answer
The Mile High City Click to show or hide the answer
Motor City, Motown (USA) Click to show or hide the answer
The Devil's bones Click to show or hide the answer
Devil's darning needle Click to show or hide the answer
Queen of the South Click to show or hide the answer
The Edinburgh of the South (New Zealand city) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Land of the Prince Bishops Click to show or hide the answer
The Athens of the North, Auld Reekie Click to show or hide the answer
The Ship of the Fens Click to show or hide the answer
The Wingless Wonders (1966) Click to show or hide the answer
Ireland's Teardrop (said to be because it was the last Irish land seen by transatlantic emigrants) Click to show or hide the answer
Land of a Thousand Lakes (country – cf. Minnesota) Click to show or hide the answer
The Sweeney (Sweeney Todd – rhyming slang) Click to show or hide the answer
Poilu (WWI) Click to show or hide the answer
City of the Tribes Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
30 St. Mary Axe, London (formerly the Swiss Re building; built on the site of the Baltic Exchange building, bombed by the IRA in 1992) Click to show or hide the answer
The Old Firm: the two major football clubs of Click to show or hide the answer
The Clockwork Orange is the underground railway of
Glen of weeping (the meaning of its Gallic name) Click to show or hide the answer
Lady of the stream (fish species) Click to show or hide the answer
Steel City (Ontario) Click to show or hide the answer
Brown sugar Click to show or hide the answer
Mr. Balfour's Poodle (according to David Lloyd George) Click to show or hide the answer
The Brickyard Click to show or hide the answer
The Emerald Isle, John Bull's Other Island Click to show or hide the answer
Fool's gold (mineral) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
The Queen of the Hebrides Click to show or hide the answer
The '45 (historical event) Click to show or hide the answer
Thor's Hammer: the right hand of (Swedish boxer) Click to show or hide the answer
The Garden of England Click to show or hide the answer
The Run for the Roses (horse race) Click to show or hide the answer
Sin City, City of Lights, The Gambling (or Entertainment, or Marriage) Capital of the World, Capital of Second Chances, The Silver City, America's Playground Click to show or hide the answer
Queen of the Moorlands (Staffordshire town) Click to show or hide the answer
The Forbidden City Click to show or hide the answer
Paddy's Wigwam is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Click to show or hide the answer
The Great Wen (to William Cobbett) Click to show or hide the answer
The Scottish play (by actors etc., who consider it unlucky to say its proper name) Click to show or hide the answer
The George Cross Island Click to show or hide the answer
Cottonopolis (being the centre of Britain's cotton industry, from the Industrial Revolution onwards) Click to show or hide the answer
Gate of Tears (Bridge of Tears, in Verne's Around the World in 80 Days); separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden Click to show or hide the answer
The Red Planet Click to show or hide the answer
The Race that Stops a Nation (Australia's most prestigious horse race) Click to show or hide the answer
City of Lakes, Mill City, or Mini Apple Click to show or hide the answer
Land of Ten Thousand Lakes (US state – cf. Finland) Click to show or hide the answer
The Big Muddy Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Tin Lizzie Click to show or hide the answer
The Wooden Wonder, The Timber Terror (de Havilland multi-role combat aircraft, serving durina and after WWII – a.k.a. the Mossie) Click to show or hide the answer
The Big Easy Click to show or hide the answer
The Big Apple Click to show or hide the answer
Land of the Midnight Sun Click to show or hide the answer
The Sick Man of Europe (19th century) Click to show or hide the answer
City of Dreaming Spires Click to show or hide the answer
City of Light(s) Click to show or hide the answer
The Devil's picture books Click to show or hide the answer
The Black forty–seven (Ireland, 1847) Click to show or hide the answer
The Fourth Estate Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Showplace of the Nation (New York building, developed 1929–40) Click to show or hide the answer
Grand Old Party (US) Click to show or hide the answer
The Eternal city Click to show or hide the answer
The Great C Major (symphony) Click to show or hide the answer
Land o' Cakes (description used by Fergusson and Burns – referring to the popularity of oatcakes) Click to show or hide the answer
Disease popularly known as 'the King's Evil' in mediaeval England and France, because it was believed to be cured by a touch from the king or queen Click to show or hide the answer
The Granary of Europe (formerly) Click to show or hide the answer
Catherine Cookson Country Click to show or hide the answer
The Ladies of the Vale Click to show or hide the answer
The Drawing Room of Europe Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
New York: the Big Board Click to show or hide the answer
Mother Carey's chicken Click to show or hide the answer
Lighthouse of the Mediterranean (believed to have been erupting continuously for over 2,000 years) Click to show or hide the answer
Copperopolis (a key centre of the UK's copper industry in the 19th century; cf. Cottonopolis) Click to show or hide the answer
The Coathanger (iconic Australian landmark) Click to show or hide the answer
The French disease (in England), the English disease (in France), the Spanish disease (in Italy), the Polish disease (in Russia), the Christian disease (in Muslim countries); etc., etc. … Click to show or hide the answer
The Roof of the World (an autonomous region of China) Click to show or hide the answer
The Thunderer (from 1830) Click to show or hide the answer
Once known as 'the Friendly Islands', because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773 Click to show or hide the answer
Billy Williams's Cabbage Patch Click to show or hide the answer
Old Glory Click to show or hide the answer
Doughboy Click to show or hide the answer
The Bride of the Sea, La Serenissima Click to show or hide the answer
The Morning Star, the Evening Star, the Horned Planet Click to show or hide the answer
Denver boot (US – after the first US city to use them) Click to show or hide the answer
The Gun that Won the West (mainly due to 20th century fictional accounts) Click to show or hide the answer
The Faithful City (for loyalty to the Crown in the Civil War) Click to show or hide the answer
China's Pride, China's Sorrow Click to show or hide the answer

Part Two

In this section you're given a description of the thing, or its proper name, and you have to give its nickname.

Bang Kwang prison is reputed to be one of the world's toughest, and is often known in the West as the Click to show or hide the answer
The 42cm kurze Marinekanone (short marine canon) 14 L/12, or Minenwerfer–Gerät (mine launcher device) – a siege howitzer used by the German army during World War I – one of the largest artillery pieces ever fielded Click to show or hide the answer
The Leadenhall Building (122 Leadenhall Street, London – completed in 2014) Click to show or hide the answer
Three Egyptian obelisks: one in Paris (Place de la Concorde – since 1833), one on Victoria Embankment, London (1878), one in Central Park, New York (1881) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
The Nationale–Nederlanden building, Prague – designed 1992 for a Dutch insurance company, completed 1996. Also previously nicknamed "Fred and Ginger" Click to show or hide the answer
The automatic pilot on board an aircraft Click to show or hide the answer
Elizabeth I's "farewell" speech to her last parliament (30 November 1601) Click to show or hide the answer
Bedford RLHZ Self Propelled Pump (fire appliance used by armed forces, including when providing cover during firemen's strikes, notably in 1997 and 2002) Click to show or hide the answer
Hoa Lo prison – built by French colonists in the late 19th century, but used during the Vietnam War for American POWs, to whom it was known as the Click to show or hide the answer
Edinburgh's Old Tollbooth jail Click to show or hide the answer
Name commonly given to various clubs for high–society rakes, established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century – notably one founded in London in 1718 by Philip, Duke of Wharton and others, and one established by Sir Francis Dashwood that met irregularly at various locations, including the George & Vulture Inn in the City of London, from around 1749 until the 1760s; also associated with Brooks's, an exclusive London club founded in 1764 Click to show or hide the answer
Pirates' "skull and crossbones" flag Click to show or hide the answer
British Expeditionary Force (1914) Click to show or hide the answer
Popular name for the fashion and clothing market on Wentworth Street (six days a week) and Middlesex Street (Sundays only) in London's East End Click to show or hide the answer
The southern part of San Francisco's Bay area, including the Santa Clara Valley and San José (home to Apple, Google, Facebook, Intel, Oracle and Yahoo, among others) Click to show or hide the answer
Gravelly Hill Interchange (Junction 6 on the M6) Click to show or hide the answer
Liverpool's Pier Head (Liver Building, Cunard Building, Port of Liverpool Building) – nicknamed 2001/2 (Wikipedia) Click to show or hide the answer
Block on West 28th Street, New York, between 5th and 6th Avenues (home of music publishers and songwriters, c. 1885–1930; later referred to the surrounding area). Later applied to Denmark Street, London – home of many music shops Click to show or hide the answer
Arrangement in Grey and Black (1871 painting) Click to show or hide the answer
Nickname coined by the American press for the Lockheed F–104 Starfighter, a supersonic interceptor aircraft that entered service in 1958, due to its high accident rate Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23